The East Kentucky Hay Contest has been held for 25 years. The purpose when started was to make hay producers in Eastern KY aware of the quality of hay they were making, and if it was not very good quality, they would want to improve it. We had 75 samples tested the first year.

As agents, our hopes were that our participating farmers would take the results and work with us to improve the forage quality. And share what they were learning about the importance of having their forages tested with their fellow producers and neighbors. Boy, were we ever successful with that part. This year we had 592 samples tested. And the producers are now very aware of the quality of the forage they are producing and the importance of high quality hay.

The producers who participate in Boyd County are talking to me about their forage strategies year round, looking for ways to improve it. Many are trying to make their first cut up to a month earlier than they used to, weather permitting, to get a high quality first cutting that is not over mature.

They are soil testing more to be sure that their plants are getting the nutrition they need to produce better quality. And many, if not most, are storing their dry hay under cover to keep the quality they have worked hard to get.

More farmers each year are doing wrapped forages to improve the palatability of their forage, as well as to protect it from weather. They are also wrapping to enable them to cut their hay at the right stage of maturity, regardless of if it raining or not, as long as they can get their equipment through the fields and not damage their soil.

All in all, this program has been an outstanding success, no matter how you measure it. In the beginning, many of the farmers who knew each other focused on the contest part, always trying to outdo their friends. Now, the ribbons still give bragging rights, but more importantly, the farmers are more interested in the quality of hay they are making and how to improve it.

Oh, and did I mention that there is no cost whatsoever to the farmers. The samples have always been tested for free, first by the KY Dept. of Ag and now by the UK test lab. And all samples are taken by the county Extension agents.